Craftsmanship Judge Announcement – Star Angel

Star Angel is joining us as a judge for this year’s craftsmanship cosplay contest!

Star Angel Cosplay (Angela) is an award-winning, master-level cosplayer and educator. She started sewing from a very young age when her sense of style and love of dressing up like movie and TV show characters made her father and grandmother realize that “this child needs to learn how to sew.”

Angela has over 20 years of experience in the world of cosplay and has focused on introducing new commers to costuming/cosplay and helping create a fun and safe environment for all. When not working on cosplays she has designed and created costumes for stage and screen, She loves the process of bringing a thought on a piece of paper to life.

She has been a cosplay guest, judge, contest runner, she currently runs Katsucon’s Hall Costume Contest, and instructor at many conventions across the US, and her costumes have been featured in The Washington Post, CosMode, and multiple coffee table costuming/cosplay books.

Outside of cosplay Angela works as an actress, having worked on commercials for JG Wentworth, Visit Raleigh, as well as numerous horror movies, and TV shows!

You can find Angela online on various platforms, she is Angalese on Instagram and AngelaPlaysUkulele on TikTok and YouTube.

Featured Panelist Announcement – Action Arcade

Action Arcade is a featured panelist for Nekocon 2023, taking place November 3-5 at Hampton Roads Convention Center. Preregister for a badge today!

Starting out at ROFCon in 2014, Action Arcade was founded by Proto Jiff. Action Arcade has been providing panel and programming entertainment ever since at events like Nekocon, ROFCon, FursonaCon, AnimeUSA, Katsucon and Station Unity. The group views games as a step ladder, finding unique and new ways to play them; their content including heckling, sabotages, and other challenges. Programming they provide normally ranges from Top 10 panels, Speed Runs, tournaments, debate panels, and social style events like singalong dance parties and gaming social hours.

Guest Announcement – Sarshi

We’re excited to present visual kei guitarist Sarshi (HERO, Nana, Flutter Echo) at NekoCon 2023! Sarshi will be performing support guitar for Yugiri (DaizyStripper), who will be performing as a soloist.
 
As the guitarist for the visual kei rock band HERO, SARSHI made his major debut in 2013 on the label Nippon Crown. HERO also provided the theme song for the anime FAIRY TAIL, and perform one-man shows at Zepp Tokyo, Shibuya Public Hall, and the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall. In 2021, the band that started his career, Nana, resumed activities and released “Namida ga Tomaranakutemo” in 2023. He is also currently active as part of an EDM unit called Flutter Echo where he performs as both a guitarist and vocalist.
 
SARSHI was last in America as a support guitarist for ICE in 2019, and he is pleased to be able to return for NekoCon as support for Yugiri.

Guest Announcement – Yugiri

We are happy to welcome Yugiri to NekoCon 2023, taking place November 3rd-November 5th at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Register for a badge today!

Yugiri is the vocalist of the visual kei rock band, DaizyStripper, which was formed in March of 2007 and began activities with a demonstration show at Takadanobaba AREA on June 5th of that same year.
They have performed solo shows in Taiwan and Korea as well as participated in events in France, Canada, and America.
In Japan, they perform at venues such as Zepp Tokyo, Shibuya Public Hall, Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall, and Tokyo Dome City Hall.

In the past, they provided the ending theme song for Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, and ten years after they’d formed as a band, they released their first major debut single AGAIN on July 26th, 2017.

On January 24th, 2018, they released their second major single, 4GET ME NOT, the sound producer of which was Ken of L’Arc~en~Ciel.

On June 5th, 2018, they held a fan appreciation event titled “KISS THE FUTURE~Perfect Request Live~” for their 11th anniversary. At that same show, they announced the launch of their own label KISS RECORDS, which had been in the works for some time.

Their activities since then have continued to catch people’s attention.

This will be Yugiri’s first time back to the USA since 2008.